1836 Reeded Edge Half Dollar PCGS EF40 OGH $4,500.00

Walter Breen famously postulated that there were only 1,200 1836 Reeded Edge half dollars produced. This is one statement of his that, while I believe to be incorrect, at least had some grounding in reality. In truth, no one knows exactly how many of this issue were produced, but my best guess is that at least 5,000 of these coins left Philadelphia. Regardless, one thing that is painfully obvious to me as a long-time collector and dealer in this series and as a collaborator with Dick Graham for our reference work on these coins, is that virtually none survived in mid-grades with any type of original surfaces at all. These coins were abused by the collecting and dealing community. They were dipped, cleaned, buffed and whatever else to produce a population of stripped pieces. This, thankfully, is one of the rare few to have survived with meat and with original skin and dirt. It is in a PCGS old green holder (OGH). However, there is on this coin a hit on the coin that caused a depression between stars one and two on the obverse that travels toward Ms. Liberty's bust and a similar mark in a similar position on the reverse near the eagle's right wing. I don't know what caused it, but it was blunt and was done a long, long time ago. The entire surface has toned over on top of these blemishes. This coin is original as the day is long, but has these shallow surface marks that not everyone would embrace. Personally, I prefer the original surfaces greatly to a mark-free, secondary toned coin. $4,500.00